“Falling into Ourselves” By Emmy Pehrson

Falling into Ourselves

Music By Emmy Pehrson

“Falling Into Ourselves” is a piece composed for piano and orchestrated for small ensembles, completed from June to December of 2018. The piece moves seamlessly between the keys of F#m and C#m, with a time signature shifting from three to four beats per measure. The first movement being based in F#m adds a “false floor” to the work, allowing the listener to feel like they’re falling into the piece along with the music when the first chorus in C#m appears. This “falling” motion continues through each upper hand run that separates the movements, going down and up again with the appearance of the lower hand. 

The title and theme come from exploring the feelings of self discovery, whether related to the role of the self in interpersonal love, feelings of self worth, or any shift in inward personality. The first movement emulates the birth of a consciousness and the subsequent building of worldly experience, while the first chorus acts as a kairotic moment in life that significantly alters this character’s perception in perpetuity (the Dmaj to C#m base chord shifts acting as the impetus to each chorus from that point onward). 

The second movement, beginning directly after the first chorus, sees this character participating in their environment in different ways but still viewing the world through the frame that was implanted in them by that first impactful moment. This culminates in the first movement motif coming back for the final time with more and more energetic orchestration building around it.

This work is part of a large piano-centric album project I am currently undertaking, being the first piece in a series of 9-10. The theme and story of this consciousness is explored throughout the album with each track gaplessly flowing into each other. The few notes that act as the beginning of the next piece have been removed from this recording.

First movement: 0:00
Second movement: 2:09
Third movement: 3:58